Having just returned from 12 days in Asia with just a roll-a-board, it seemed that packing for the sabbatical would be easy. Just add a few more things. But, wait, I probably need a few more shirts and a couple more pair of pants. But what if I eat too much – Alka Seltzer would be nice to reach for in the middle of the night. And bandaids – might cut myself, cold medicine, Tums… aw heck, how about a complete duplicate of our entire medicine chest? Yes, I know they have variants of all these, there, but …

Then there’s also the notion of packing for 3 seasons, summer, fall, and winter, sometimes all in the same week. Fine dining, picnicking, bistros, professional talks all require different clothes. Different shoes (well that’s Lorie), tripods, extra parts for electronics, flavored coffee creamer (it’s darn hard to find in Europe, they probably think we’re weird or something), a truffle shaver and an oyster knife (essentials!) all go in. And of course, the cat wants to help.

Let’s see then, the luggage scale Heather and Hannah got us is extremely useful; United allows 70# luggage for free, Air France, 70# with baggage fees, SAS, nothing over 50# (darn Scandinavians), And then there’s rolling two 70# bags, two 40# roll-a-boards, and two backpacks up and down train platforms. Needless to say, some things are staying behind. But not the truffle shaver!

More from the road on the luggage adventure, particularly after visiting Dehillerin in Paris for copper cookware.

Bruce McMillin, Rolla MO, Août 2013 – 7 days to go